Ren Isana looked quietly at Eriri and slowly said, "You might not believe it, but this ban was established by Director Ken through a bloody lesson. The reason~? He learned Dragon race magic, and as a result, his Tier 9 strength was completely crippled. Understand?"
At those words, Eriri's expression instantly changed. She finally understood why Ren was telling her this. She hadn't taken these matters to heart before, but if one day she accidentally copied the magic of another race...
A shiver ran down Eriri's spine as she quickly replied, "Senior Ren, I've got it memorized. I will absolutely never copy non-human magic from now on!!"
She practically made a solemn vow right then and there. Resolutely refusing to copy non-human magic? If using it even once would cripple her, was this some kind of joke?
*She absolutely did not want to lose her power!!*
Ren shook his head. "No, it's not just about absolutely avoiding non-human magic. Even if a human casts magic right in front of you, you still can't copy it. After all, taking on a human form is far too easy."
It wasn't just a matter of not copying obvious monsters. Wasn't disguising oneself as a human incredibly simple? It was *too* simple. All Eriri needed to do was avoid blindly learning random, unknown magic.
"Huh?" Eriri didn't quite grasp what Ren was saying. What did that mean? She couldn't fully understand.
Yuki Suou chimed in to explain. "What Senior Ren means is that some races can also transform into humans, like Elves and so on!"
Now Eriri finally understood. *So that's how it is.* But thinking about it again, it really made sense. Wasn't turning into a human easy? It was incredibly easy.
"Exactly. I hope you won't recklessly copy magic in the future. It will cause problems. If you want to learn a spell, learn it directly from a human. As for anything else you don't recognize, it's best not to try!" Ren warned, looking quietly at Eriri.
If she didn't take these matters to heart, this girl would inevitably run into trouble sooner or later. The best approach was to drill the warning into her head so she would never forget it.
Hearing this, Eriri nodded frantically. She had firmly memorized this rule. From now on, she wouldn't copy magic at random; she would only copy things she could actually use.
As for the rest? She probably wouldn't be able to use most of what she learned anyway, right? Thinking of this, Eriri began to formulate a plan for her future. The main focus should be on refinement, not quantity.
"Just remember what I said today. Once you get to university, I'm sure Director Ken will personally instruct you!" Ren had no doubts about this. Eriri's file was probably already sitting on Director Ken's desk.
A kid with a talent somewhat similar to his own had appeared, and directly in the special class no less. Would Director Ken notice? Absolutely. It was even possible that he had personally requested Eriri's admission.
Eriri's eyes instantly lit up at Ren's words. *Could such a good thing really happen?* But she wasn't stupid. After a moment of thought, she realized that it was definitely a certainty.
Ren didn't dwell on the topic, instead asking another question. "When you guys killed monsters earlier, did you feel your Excelia increasing?"
The girls had just killed some monsters, so there should have been some feedback. This made Ren quite curious. Would combining the two systems produce an effect?
"Yes, I felt the Excelia just now. I got a little stronger. But if we want to keep testing it, we'll need to level up first..." Iroha Sakayori explained her situation to Ren after sensing her own condition.
Hearing this, Ren nodded thoughtfully. He looked at the girls in front of him and said, "Then you all should focus on leveling up in this world for now. I'll come pick you up after a while!"
Asuna was the first to react. She looked at Ren with a bit of dismay. "Are you going back already? So soon?"
Her mood instantly soured. She had thought Ren would stay here and wait with them, but he was leaving already?
Ren nodded, turning to look at Asuna, the little glutton. "I have no choice. A new world has been discovered back home, and it's a very high-tier one at that. So I have to go back, and I need to report on the situation in this world while I'm at it."
Asuna felt a pang of regret, but since Ren had business to attend to, she didn't press the issue. Instead, she said, "Alright, you head back first. Business is more important. You can leave them to me."
The others nodded in agreement. They couldn't leave this world yet anyway. There were still many things they hadn't explored, and they hadn't found the Divine Weapons they needed either.
There was also the matter of defeating the Demon King. Thinking of this world's Demon King, Ren suddenly spoke up. "Asuna, why don't you guys act as Bravers for a bit? Take care of the Demon King in this world, and handle the local kingdoms while you're at it~!"
Although the gods didn't care about this world, it still had kingdoms, and those kingdoms were currently fighting against the Demon King's army on the front lines. As long as Asuna and the others charged in, building a good relationship with this country wouldn't be a problem at all.
Not to mention, there was Princess Iris, right? That little girl was incredibly easy to fool, and the king was completely doting on his daughter. Winning over Iris basically meant winning over the entire kingdom.
"Hmm... That's not a bad idea. If I take them along to subjugate the Demon King's army, their levels should shoot up pretty quickly. Plus, it counts as a grand achievement!" Asuna couldn't help but ponder Ren's suggestion.
Her group possessed the achievement of saviors, having rescued countless Cursed Children. As their juniors, it seemed Iroha Sakayori and the others could earn a similar achievement, right? After all, this world had a Demon King.
Securing the achievement of a Braver didn't sound bad at all. Having made up her mind, Asuna voiced her approval. It was happily decided—she would lead these girls to subjugate the Demon King.
"Alright, then we're off to subjugate the Demon King!" Asuna declared, finalizing their plans. After chatting with them for a bit longer, Ren said his goodbyes and left, telling them to notify him directly if anything came up.
Before leaving, Ren also placed a failsafe on the girls. If they encountered any real danger, they would be instantly teleported back to their own world, ensuring their lives wouldn't be at risk.
Having handled all of this, Ren finally returned to his own world, arriving at the base stationed in the Gourmet World.
Upon returning, Ren explained the situation of the other world to Natsuki Minamiya. When she learned of everything, her eyes lit up. *There's actually a world like that?*
"I understand. Leave the rest to me. Since that world is suitable as a beginner's village, why don't you send everyone from the new special class over? Let them improve their strength as quickly as possible!" Natsuki Minamiya suggested.
Sending only five people over was a bit of a waste. It would be better to send everyone so they could properly train in that world. After all, that was exactly what Ren and his group had done back then.
Hearing Natsuki Minamiya's words, Ren stroked his chin and found it quite reasonable. He simply agreed to it; it was just an extra trip, after all. With that thought, Ren first contacted Asuna and the others.
He told them to wait at the entrance, then sprang into action, sending Rina-sensei and the rest of the classmates over. This happened so suddenly that many of them weren't prepared at all.
On second thought, when a real war came, there wouldn't be any time for everyone to prepare anyway. So, Ren didn't give anyone the chance to refuse, tossing them all over in one fell swoop.
At most, he let the students send a quick message to their parents. Everything else could be arranged slowly once they were there; that side wasn't lacking in supplies.
By the time Ren finished handling all these matters and returned to his dorm, the sky had completely darkened. Stretching lazily, Ren checked the time and decided not to go out again, opting to rest in his room instead.
After a busy day, Ren was feeling a bit tired. Sitting on his balcony, he began to study the matter of his own breakthrough. He didn't need to worry about the other two worlds anymore since Natsuki Minamiya had taken over. After all, Ren's only job was to fight!
"Tier 10, huh... What a headache. There's absolutely no sign of movement, and I can't even break through in this world..." Ren was truly stumped. How exactly was he supposed to do this?
After pondering for a moment, Ren suddenly remembered `[Kokonoe]`, which he had learned from Haruhime... Since he didn't know how to break through, he might as well experience what a temporary breakthrough felt like!
`[Kokonoe]` could raise his level by one. So, if he used it now at Tier 9, breaking through to Tier 10 shouldn't be a problem, right? With this thought in mind, Ren began his attempt.
Casting `[Kokonoe]` on himself, the power within Ren's body instantly surged. His aura became even more terrifying, and his perception and understanding of energy reached their absolute peak in that moment.
However, to Ren's surprise, although `[Kokonoe]` caused his stats to skyrocket, it didn't actually work?
Because Ren hadn't broken through to Tier 10 at all!!
All that had increased were his all-around stats. He was infinitely close to Tier 10, but he hadn't broken through. Realizing this, Ren felt completely numb. *Good grief... Do I really have no choice but to wait it out slowly?*
Ren activated his talent, frantically brainstorming a countermeasure. He refused to believe there was no way. Since that was the case, he would let his talent turn the tide!
Various pieces of information surfaced in Ren's mind. From the moment he crossed over into this world, to his path of growing stronger—everything slowly played out in his head. Suddenly... a flash of inspiration struck him.
He had come to this world because his counterpart in this world had sacrificed himself to summon him. That sacrifice was equivalent to pulling over a version of himself from a parallel world. Since parallel worlds existed, did this world also have parallel worlds?
The Type-Moon world had them, so did they exist here too? In another parallel spacetime, was there another version of himself? Ren's brain began to work in overdrive!
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