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The Paper User: Exiled for a ‘Trash Skill,’ Awakens True Power and Rises with Two Unique Skills - Chapter 8

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Chapter 8 : New Ally

Three days later, I was wearing the new clothes freshly finished at Armine’s house.

The outfit was mainly blue, consisting of a jacket, a coat, and trousers with many pockets.

These pockets had a similar effect to the magic pouch — a magical tool that could hold a large number of items. I had asked Armine to add them. If I stored folded paper inside the magic pouch beforehand, I wouldn’t have to use my basic mana to manifest it. Inside the pouch, the manifestation time doesn’t count, so even complicated magical paper could be produced instantly.

“Yeah, the fit is perfect.”

Armine placed her hands on her slim waist and nodded with satisfaction.

“I made the best clothes ever. It’s been a while since I did such a good job.”

“Thanks. But are you sure? If you sold this, it would fetch an incredible price.”

“I’m not selling it. I made it with care for you, Yakumo-kun.”

Saying that, Armine lightly tapped my chest with the back of her hand.

“Now you’ll be able to take on seriously difficult jobs.”

“Oh, by the way, who’s the other companion?”

“They should be here soon. I told them I’d introduce you.”

At that moment, the door opened and a teenage girl entered the house.

She had long purple hair reaching down to her waist, a slender figure, and purple eyes. From her slightly open mouth, sharp teeth peeked out. Her outfit was a jacket made of layered fabrics in different colors and shorts. She wore long reddish-brown boots.

Wow, such colorful clothes. The pockets on the jacket were different colors on each side — like a rainbow insect.

“Hmmph, so this skinny guy is the new member?”

The girl looked me up and down.

“Doesn’t look very strong.”

“That’s not true, Pirun.”

Armine said.

“Yakumo-kun is F-rank, but he has a powerful unique skill.”

“Hmmm, is that so?”

The girl — Pirun — growled and stepped closer.

“I’m Pirun, the Berserker. I’m D-rank now, but someday I’ll be S-rank and defeat the Demon King. Remember that.”

“Defeat the Demon King? That’s an amazing goal.”

“If I get serious, it’s easy. And Armine made me magic weapons and clothes.”

“Just so you know, the color and design of those clothes were Pirun’s choice.”

Armine pointed to Pirun’s outfit.

“Personally, I prefer calmer colors.”

“Hmmph, the more colors the better! They’re pretty and cool!”

Pirun puffed her cheeks.

“Yakumo must think my clothes are cool too.”

“Uh, well…”

I mumbled.

“Yeah... I think they’re original and nice. A bit childish... no, cute.”

“Cute...”

Pirun’s purple eyes sparkled.

“Yakumo has fashion sense. That means I’m willing to accept you as a party member.”

“Th-thank you.”

I wasn’t sure why, but I felt like Pirun had accepted me.

A Berserker, huh.

Berserkers massively boost their combat power and fight on instinct. They aren’t good at calm, tactical fighting, but they’re strong attackers and reliable allies in battle.

“Oh, right. Yakumo-kun, here—take this too.”

Armine handed me a dagger with a pale blue blade.

“This is the ‘Magic-Eating Dagger’ I made. It responds to the user’s will, changing the shape of its water-element blade. It can extend into a long blade or thicken like an axe. The sharpness also improves with the amount of mana you have. But there’s a downside.”

“Downside?”

“Yeah. Changing the blade requires a huge amount of mana. So only people with a large basic mana pool can use it. That’s why, even though I made it with expensive materials, I couldn’t sell it.”

“Magic-Eating Dagger, huh…”

I looked at the dagger in my hand. The blade was translucent, and a blue gem was embedded in the hilt. That must be a ‘Water Magic Stone’ that strengthens water-element effects.

A weapon that uses a lot of mana—perfect for magic warriors. But if I use too much mana on this dagger, it might be harder to cast other spells...

Still, having an attack method besides paper is nice. Also, I don’t have to worry about manifestation time, and it seems sharper than paper swords. The question is...

“I wonder if I can master it?”

“I think you’ll be fine. You have that skill that increases your basic mana, right?”

“Y-yeah. Probably.”

“Hmm? ‘Probably’? Haven’t you identified your skill?”

Armine tilted her head.

“Identification magic is easy, you know? Cheap identification devices are sold, and lots of people can use identification magic.”

“Well, I recently hit my head, and a skill I lost as a kid seems to have returned.”

“Oh, really? What skill came back?”

“...It’s probably ‘Mana Overflow.’”

“Hmm? ‘Mana Overflow’ is a unique skill, right?”

“Yeah. My basic mana increased unbelievably, so I think that’s what it is.”

“W-wait a minute!”

Armine grabbed a black crystal ball from the shelf, brought it close to my face, and cast a spell.

Red letters appeared on the surface.

“...It’s true. You have the skills ‘Mana Overflow’ and ‘Paper User.’ And your basic mana amount is... 2.3 million mana!?”

Armine’s voice got louder.

“2.3 million mana is more than a thousand times the average basic mana for humans!”

“So that’s how it is.”

I stared at the letters on the crystal ball.

Without ‘Mana Overflow,’ I wouldn’t have been able to manifest so much paper when I fought the Chimera.

“Wow, that’s unexpected.”

Armine scratched her head.

“I never imagined you’d have 2.3 million mana. And two unique skills, no less. I guess I accidentally recruited an unbelievable F-rank.”

“Unbelievable... huh?”

“I’ve never heard of even an S-rank having multiple unique skills. Of course, that doesn’t guarantee strength, but your potential is definitely amazing.”

Armine stared at me.

“...For now, let’s take on some quests at the Adventurer’s Guild.”

“Eh, right now?”

“Yeah. I want to see how you fight. Plus, I used a lot of rare materials, so we need to earn some good money.”

Armine gave a thumbs-up.


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