Maiol woke up to the overwhelming stench of something foul.

  "It stinks. The smell of a monster repellent..."

  Muttering to herself, she twisted her body and realised she was covered by a rge leaf. It must have been Seneca who had done that for her.

  Her body was filled with exhaustion, but not to the point where she couldn't walk. With some rest, she would likely be able to move. Her injuries, for now, didn’t seem too severe.

  Maiol activated her [Detection] skill.

  She could sense Seneca and Attalos slowly approaching. It appeared that Attalos was leaning on Seneca for support, and the two of them were stumbling towards her.

  After a while, their figures became visible.

  Maiol sat up and called out to her friends.

  "Seneca! You’re safe!"

  "Maiol!"

  Seneca responded with a smile as she walked closer.

  "How are you doing?"

  "I’m fine. What about you, Attalos?"

  "Oh, I’m fine too. Seneca said we could avoid monsters here, so we made a straight path. With potions and healing magic, I’ll be back to full strength. I’m just gd you’re alive, Maiol. When you were thrown, I thought the worst."

  Attalos’ face was pale, his usual vigour absent.

  Seneca gently helped him sit against the trunk of an oak tree.

  "Maiol might not remember, but you flew through the air like nothing I’ve ever seen. We were lucky you nded in a good spot. Even I panicked a little."

  "Really?"

  Maiol asked, stunned, while Attalos, still glowing faintly from healing magic, nodded.

  "So, what exactly happened?"

  Maiol asked, and Seneca and Attalos expined the entire ordeal in detail. Maiol listened intently.

  "So, after I was bsted away by the Cyclops, Attalos threw himself in harm's way to protect me, which saved me, but we continued to struggle after that. Seneca carried me while I was delirious, and when I spoke, you decided to return to the fight. Because of that, Attalos was able to stop the killing blow, and you managed to take down the Cyclops. Is that right?"

  "Exactly."

  "That’s... unbelievable..."

  Seneca affirmed lightly, but Maiol looked utterly lost, almost on the verge of tears.

  "But... why was there such a monster there?"

  "We don’t know the full details, but sometimes a magical energy build-up forms a space like roots, and within that space, powerful monsters can appear. This is cssified information, so I can’t say more, but it was likely the same case this time."

  Attalos’ gaze drifted off as he spoke.

  Noticing that both Seneca and Maiol were staring at him intently, Attalos continued.

  "Some high-ranking monsters are sensitive to detection skills. The variant of the Cyclops we faced was likely one of those. Now that I think about it, it might have been targeting you, Maiol. It was an agile and powerful creature, far more dangerous than anything we should’ve been facing. We would have needed a high-ranking silver or gold-tier party to tackle it."

  Maiol, who had regained some colour, turned pale again at the thought.

  "Attalos, you fought such a strong monster while injured...?"

  "Yeah," Attalos replied. "I never formally introduced myself, but I’m Attalos Pergamon, a gold-tier adventurer. These days, I’m not working full-time as an adventurer, but I still take on requests from time to time. If needed, I can also serve as a military adventurer."

  Attalos pulled out his adventurer card, which bore the stamp that marked him as a gold-tier adventurer.

  "I knew it."

  "Well, of course. A gold-tier adventurer would be capable of taking on such a monster."

  Attalos nodded in agreement.

  "I also have a question for you. That technique you used on the Cyclops—what was it? I’ve never seen you move so fast. Honestly, when I saw you charging, I thought you’d be crushed, and I nearly turned away."

  "It was Iaijutsu. I thought of a new way to use the skill and tried it, and it worked well."

  "…It didn’t look that simple, but fine."

  Seneca avoided his gaze with a sheepish expression, so Attalos, sensing her discomfort, decided not to press further.

  "Seneca, Maiol, this whole situation was my fault. If I had expined things properly beforehand, Maiol wouldn’t have been hurt. I’m truly sorry. But I’m so gd you two are alive!"

  Attalos bowed deeply in apology.

  Both Seneca and Maiol blinked in surprise before accepting his apology.

  "I’ll drink an advanced potion and rest, and while I’m doing that, Seneca, you should go gather materials from the Cyclops. A monster like that will bring in a great fortune! But do be careful."

  Seneca’s eyes gleamed with excitement as she dashed off in an instant.

  ...

  The three of them returned to their camp.

  They pnned to rest for the day tomorrow and head back to the town the day after.

  On the way back, Maiol was searching for magical energy build-ups, but after severing the "roots", the concentrations of magical energy seemed to have dissipated.

  Maiol felt that there was still something unknown in this area but chose not to ask, knowing that Attalos had remained silent on the matter and understanding that there must be something he could not disclose.

  That night, Seneca took the first watch.

  Although there were other ways they could have managed without a watch, Seneca felt no fatigue and was in good physical condition, so she volunteered to keep guard.

  "Level 3…"

  Just walking to the camp, Seneca realised that her physical abilities had significantly improved. Although there was some dissonance between her mind and body, she found it easy to move, understanding intuitively how to use her enhanced abilities, so the adjustment was retively smooth.

  "[Pin]"

  She decided to test out her newly acquired sub-skill. A single pin materialised in her hand.

  Though it was a pin, the head had a red flower-like ornament attached to it.

  She concentrated and created more pins—one yellow, one green.

  Seneca instinctively understood how to use this skill.

  She pced a pin in the air, and upon letting go, it remained suspended in pce. This was the "Fix" ability of [Pin].

  Next, she visualised five pins floating in the air and infused them with magical energy. As she imagined, the [Pins] materialised. Compressing the magic contained within them, she released them, and they shot forward like [Magical Needle].

  The magic contained in [Pins] was less potent than [Magical Needles], making it unsuitable for long-range sniping. However, since there was no need to "sew", it was much easier to shoot them. Additionally, she could unch multiple pins at once, making it ideal for mid-range and area attacks.

  Seneca recognised that [Pin] was a very useful skill. It expanded her strategic options significantly. What she once thought impossible could become achievable with more practice and mastery.

  She had only just gained this power. Determined, Seneca resolved to continue experimenting and refining her skills.

  After several trials, she stood up and unsheathed her sword.

  She swung it back to her shoulder and, just as she had done earlier, cut through the air, "sewing" it.

  Clink

  The speed of her attack far exceeded what she had expected, and with a clean ssh, she struck.

  It was a perfect cut.

  While she hadn't infused as much magical energy as st time, the speed at which she could "sew" through the air was now far more effortless.

  However, upon reflecting on her actions, Seneca realised how dangerously close she had come to failure.

  "That was lucky."

  At the time, she had been too focused, but with that kind of speed, hitting her target would have been incredibly difficult. It was pure chance that she had nded the blow. If asked to do it again, she doubted she would succeed.

  Thinking back to the times when things had nearly gone wrong, she shuddered. Her sword had come perilously close to breaking. If not handled carefully, it could easily snap.

  Even so, Seneca was gd that she had won.

  ...

  The next day, Maiol and Attalos rested while collecting nearby resources.

  Seneca spent the day familiarising herself with her new abilities and training with her skills.

  Later, back at the camp, she cheered Maiol up by mimicking a tree-dwelling monkey, clinging to an oak tree.

  It was a big hit.

  The following day, the three of them returned to Baetica and reported to the guild.

  Since Attalos handled the important discussions with the higher-ups, Maiol and Seneca were only briefly interviewed.

  The materials from the Cyclops fetched a high price, and both Maiol and Seneca found themselves with a small fortune. The money they had saved for their entry into adventurer school was no longer a concern.

  Afterward, life returned to normal.

  Seneca reported her new Level 3 status to Maiol and Kito, leaving them astonished.

  Kito, hearing this, was eager to level up herself but managed to hold back.

  A few days ter, when they asked at the guild, they were informed that Attalos had quietly returned to the royal capital.

  Though a little saddened, they both agreed that they would meet him again in the future when they went to the capital.

  One week ter, a notice arrived for both of them—Seneca and Maiol had both been promoted to Copper rank, and they had also been accepted as special schorship students at the Royal Adventurers School.