While I was lazing around with No. 2, my spatial perception picked up a reaction.
Could it be the Demon King!?
I tensed for an instant, but then I realized — the Demon King doesn't have teleportation.
Besides, when I checked the position with marking, the Demon King was apparently making a full circuit of the lowest layer for some reason.
So who was it?
The spatial disturbance was far too large for Gurgurim.
Gurgurim would arrive with a much cleaner transfer.
Among others I know who can use spatial teleportation — ah, there's one.
A figure teleporting through space.
A man just a step away from being an old man.
The same mage who'd been with the knight before.
Huh?
Why is this guy showing up here all of a sudden?
Well, whatever.
My Status was mostly recovered by now, and one person like him would be easy to kill.
He'd leveled up his Skills and considerable Experience Points to boot — he looked quite delicious.
"O-Oh!?"
The man noticed me.
He apparently didn't come here knowing I was around, but he was putting on a massive overreaction.
Well, I had completely annihilated him that one time.
Oh wait, I look completely different from back then. Can he even recognize me as me?
"Y-Yes, there is no mistake. Your form may have changed, but that presence is unmistakable."
Ah, yep. It's me.
Huh. He can tell.
Well, it doesn't matter anyway.
I suppose I'll put him to use as Experience Points.
"P-Please wait! I harbor no hostility! Please, please hear me out!"
Huh?
What?
"Please, take me as your disciple!"
And so, for some reason, the man ended up squatting with me.
"I have devoted my life to the arcane arts, but I was captivated by the pinnacle of your sorcery. I beg you, please allow me to become your disciple. From the moment I witnessed your dazzling magic that day, my heart has been seized by that radiance and never released. The magnificent smoothness of that magical construction was like a national-treasure-grade work of art. And yet it carried an overwhelming presence as grand as a great mountain. A divine technique that no mortal skill could ever hope to rival. The flowing mana was like the current of a great river, and the magic that burst forth was as vast as the sea. Yes, yes! The essence of magic exists alongside nature and the world! I am endlessly grateful that you have reminded me of that origin. Furthermore, constructing magic from nothing without relying on Skills. That method that throws common sense out the window — truly eye-opening. It made me reconsider whether Skills might actually be narrowing the possibilities of magic. I had been praised as a genius and treated as such, and it addled my brain. Magic is the art of feeling the world and reshaping it. And yet, I had been meekly obedient to the laws of the world all along — I want to reprimand my past self. To know the world, to change it with your own hands — how deceptively easy yet impossibly difficult that is. I too wish to cast magic without Skills…"
The man launched into his monologue at absolutely terrifying speed.
I couldn't help but stare blankly, letting his words wash right over me.
Yeah.
Honestly, I was put off.
By the time I came back to my senses, I'd lost the will to kill him.
He'd completely disarmed me.
But that doesn't mean I'm going to take him on as a disciple.
Besides, I can't even talk.
I suppose I could take a Skill for telepathic communication — I'd have enough Skill Points left from the mass acquisition after the Mother integration. I'd spent most of them, but around 100 points should still be available, so it wasn't impossible.
But I had no intention of taking that Skill just to communicate with this guy.
It'd be too much trouble.
This man was so far gone that even I was put off.
Communication with someone like that?
No way. Way too high a bar for me.
So I decided to ignore him.
The thing was, this guy kept talking to me as if I understood language. How could he possibly expect that from a Monster?
Well, I actually do understand, but...
Normally you wouldn't assume a Monster could comprehend language, right?
Why was this guy skipping over that part entirely?
Was he out of his mind?
Oh yeah, he obviously was.
So I resolved to ignore him, but the man wouldn't leave.
He kept talking to me, and once he realized I wasn't responding, he switched to staring at me intently.
What is with this guy?
Eventually, he seemed to reach some kind of epiphany looking off into the distance, then set himself on fire.
He nearly died.
The sight of him laughing while on the brink of death was downright creepy.
Yeah, this guy was definitely nuts.
Why was he attacking himself?
Was he an idiot?
After that, the bizarre cohabitation continued. I was tormented by the old man's eccentricities while slowly recovering my Status.
It started with the fire, then he froze half his body in ice, or got blown high into the air by wind only to come crashing down.
At one point he nearly drowned inside a water sphere of his own creation while trying to meditate.
More like he was having an existential crisis, wasn't he?
What was he even trying to do?
There was a silver lining, though.
The man happened to know a variety of spells, and by observing him cast them, I managed to learn several new ones.
Fire, water, and ice especially — I hadn't known any of those, so it was a nice bonus.
The problem was, these three attributes had poor compatibility with me. I could learn the Skills, but their Levels barely went up.
The man apparently had decent spatial magic. He'd been carrying preserved food in a Spatial Storage, but after a few days even that ran out.
With no other option, he teleported somewhere.
I figured he'd finally given up and gone home, but for some reason he came back having hunted a Monster.
And then he ate the Monster.
It was a poisonous frog.
Naturally, he got poisoned, had his stomach wrecked, and was writhing in agony.
Seriously, what was this guy even after?