The next day, Bell was again assigned by Iri to collect information about the Fire Extinguishing Scripture's activities concerning the recent sortie, to see if there were any omissions.
If there were any unexpected loopholes to exploit, that would be for the best.
And Iri?
She was sitting in her room, lost in thought, trying to come up with a countermeasure. Normally, Iri would have run off to wander around the city, but today was different.
Yesterday, Death Knight had arranged to meet her at the training ground this afternoon, but Iri planned to stand her up. Meeting her in such a place clearly meant she wanted to fight again.
She had even taught her how to play with a Rubik's Cube yesterday, yet her favorability towards her hadn't increased at all.
It was strange, too, that whenever the Elf Kingdom was mentioned, Death Knight clearly reacted. Iri had wanted to pump her for more information, but she remained tight-lipped about it. Even a burst of anger or a strong statement would have been fine! But she said nothing.
Anyway, Iri didn't plan to go. She would just hide in her room and avoid moving around. It wouldn't be funny if that crazy woman chased her down and caught her.
If she was caught in her room, she could feign illness or something to get out of it, and in such a place, Death Knight couldn't possibly force a fight with her, right? So, no worries!
After hearing the church Bells outside chime three times, Iri chose to ignore them and continued to practice magic in her room.
Of course... she wasn't practicing offensive magic, or she'd blow up her room. What Iri was currently practicing and researching was the magic she could learn after equipping a magic ring and increasing her level.
Iri had never understood why, after equipping the magic ring, the most basic elemental attack magic, Fire Arrow, evolved into such a destructive spell.
However, after equipping the ring, using Holy Healing showed no change; it still had the same performance and effect. Because Iri was afraid that casting other offensive magic would also lead to the same devastating consequences as Fire Arrow, she basically didn't try them.
She only practiced Self-BUFF magic, such as the Self-Time Acceleration she had used earlier. These showed no change.
Another problem was... besides that Fire Arrow... Iri hadn't learned any other conventional offensive magic, so she couldn't even try.
If she tried to teach herself, she couldn't understand the world's writing, and she was too embarrassed to ask Bell to demonstrate for her. Besides, what Bell knew was only simple faith-based support magic; Iri wanted offensive magic.
What Iri was testing now was the simplest recovery magic, one of the spells she could use without equipping a ring that consumed MP.
This magic, like Fire Arrow, also super-evolved after equipping the magic ring... Although it was recovery magic, logically it should be used to restore HP, right?
However, after its super-evolution, Iri didn't dare to use this recovery magic on herself. Luckily, she was cautious and didn't cast it on herself during her first attempt; otherwise, her body might have exploded like the vase in front of her.
Originally, Iri had intended to use the recovery magic on the fresh flower Bell had picked and placed in the vase.
That flower had been picked several days ago, so it was a bit wilted now... Iri wanted to see if recovery magic had an effect on plants. After equipping the ring and using it... the fresh flower immediately disintegrated, and the vase exploded.
Just as the literal meaning implies, it shattered directly, like an amplified version of glass breaking due to thermal expansion and contraction.
The entire vase shattered into tiny fragments, and the pieces were all very small; the largest fragment was only about the size of a thumbnail.
Seeing this, Iri naturally didn't dare to experiment on people. So, today she had a rare opportunity to send Bell away and be alone... Therefore, she found some good items and tested them one by one.
Glass vases didn't work, so this time Iri found a teapot made of some unknown metal, as well as an ordinary longsword and a small round shield bought from a blacksmith's shop.
So, let's proceed gradually! First, the metal teapot, made of a softer material. This item was prepared by Bell, and Iri heard it was quite expensive. Logically, the metal used for luxury goods shouldn't be very hard, right? Let's try casting it?
So, Iri equipped the ring and cast the most basic minor recovery spell on the metal teapot. The result was that nothing happened; the teapot was completely intact.
Uh... this is strange. It could shatter a glass vase, but it's ineffective against metal? But then again, recovery magic shattering a vase was already strange enough!
A puzzled Iri directly picked up the metal teapot, but as she lifted it, the teapot's handle immediately broke off.
The entire metal teapot fell onto the table... and just like the previous vase, the entire metal teapot shattered, just like the previous vase.
The fragments, like those of the vase, were all small, irregular pieces, and the handle Iri held in her hand also shattered the next second, its fragments falling to the floor... Uh, so it still shattered?
And just like the previous glass vase, it also affected metal objects? This is a bit terrifying. I was thinking of trying it on a person.
If it were used... would a person's body shatter into pieces like the vase or this teapot?
This is a bit horrifying.
Next, the cheapest longsword bought from the blacksmith's shop, something an Adventurer would typically carry. No matter how bad it was, it would still be made of iron, right? Its hardness should also be somewhat guaranteed.
After seeing the metal teapot shatter, Iri had this idea: since it couldn't be used on people, then if it could cause destruction to these ordinary pieces of equipment, couldn't it be used as an equipment-breaking skill?
A magic spell originally meant for restoring HP actually super-evolved into an equipment-breaking magic. This is indeed a bit subtle!
As before, Iri used the recovery magic on the longsword. By common sense, recovery magic cannot affect inanimate objects. Even on living plants, its effect is very, very poor. It works on animals and magical beasts, but it's strange enough that Iri's super-evolved recovery magic can even affect inanimate objects now.
After casting the spell, Iri picked up the longsword and swung it a few times. It seemed perfectly fine.
However, considering the previous teapot, it also looked perfectly intact when not picked up, and only shattered when lifted. The longsword has been picked up and swung, and it hasn't shattered... So, is it ineffective against very hard objects? Or is the effect very poor?
If it can't even destroy an ordinary longsword, then this magic is simply useless. Who would go around destroying other people's glass or teapots for no reason?
Thinking this, Iri picked up the longsword and examined it carefully, then made a flicking motion with her hand, as if flicking someone's forehead... She flicked the blade of the longsword.
A crisp sound of metal breaking was heard, and then the longsword broke into two pieces with her flick. One of the pieces flew directly towards the door of Iri's room... "Clementine? Are you there? Hmm? The door isn't locked? I'm coming in, okay?" At that moment, Gelos's voice came from outside the door, and then that guy actually tried to enter a lady's room without even knocking!
When Gelos opened Iri's door, he saw half of something flying towards him. He instinctively tilted his head, and then the unidentified object flew directly past where his head had been, smashing into the corridor wall outside the door and instantly shattering into pieces.
"Uh... this is." Gelos looked at Clementine in front of him, utterly bewildered. He saw her holding a longsword broken in half, and instantly understood what was happening.
"Hey! Don't you knock when entering a lady's room?!" Iri said, very annoyed.
"Sorry... it was a bit urgent, so I just." Gelos silently broke into a cold sweat in his heart.
This Clementine could actually break a longsword with her bare hands. From the looks of it, she must have noticed him opening the door without greeting her, and then she broke the sword and threw it over?
But why didn't she throw the whole sword, but broke it first before throwing? He wasn't sure, but no matter the reason, it was indeed his fault for barging into her boudoir without greeting. But was it really necessary to be so ruthless?
Gelos subtly turned his head, glancing at the object in the corridor that should have been half a broken sword; it was now shattered all over the floor. How much strength did that take!
To make half a sword shatter like that after hitting a wall?
This was too outrageous. It seemed the blade must have hit the wall directly to shatter like this. If it had been the edge, the wall might even have been pierced. Such monstrous strength, even a noble lady might not be able to withstand it, right?
"So, what do you want with me?" Iri put down the broken sword in her hand, a little annoyed. After all, her experiment wasn't finished, and she was almost caught by Gelos, so Iri was naturally unhappy.
"That... uh... Fire Chief Priest Bernice of the Fire Extinguishing Scripture sent me to find you and bring you to her." Gelos hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"Oh... I understand. You go outside and wait for me. I need to prepare first." Iri didn't suspect anything and simply sent Gelos away.
When she said 'prepare,' there wasn't really anything to prepare; it was just tidying up the scene. She swept all the metal fragments from the table into the trash can. Gelos should have noticed the metal fragments on the table earlier, but they were already shattered into such small pieces that he shouldn't have been able to tell what they originally were.
So he shouldn't have realized what she was doing. Besides, no one would ever think that someone would be hiding in their room using recovery magic to destroy teapots for fun, would they?
After cleaning up the scene, Iri finally went out. She saw Gelos standing obediently outside the door, but when Iri opened the door and came out, she noticed that Gelos's gaze had just shifted back from the metal fragments of the broken sword in the corridor. This meant he must have become suspicious of these fragments.
"Hmph! If you ever try to barge into a lady's boudoir without knocking again, like this time! Don't blame me if I smash your head next time." Iri said, deliberately nonchalantly glancing at the metal fragments on the floor.
She wanted to give Gelos the impression that casually smashing a sword was something she was used to.
"No, no, there won't be a next time. I will definitely be careful. Sorry... Clementine, so we can go now, right? Bernice is waiting!" Gelos replied with an awkward smile.
"Let's go! Lead the way!" Iri said. Fire Chief Priest Bernice looking for her must be about future actions... But why would she ask Gelos, the captain of the Black Scripture, to inform her?.
It was a bit strange... but Iri didn't think much of it and followed Gelos.
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