The Darkness Was Comfortable for Me

Chapter 52: To the dungeon and Confirmation of battle power

At the entrance of the dungeon, we showed the permit issued by the guild to one of the four gatekeepers, and entered.

If we move carefully in the 1st Floor, we can avoid battling monsters without having to use Darkness Fog, and reach the 2nd Floor.

Of course, it is fine to fight.

“For now, let’s confirm our battle power. Also, how we are going to be fighting together.” (Hikaru)

If this were a brute force party of 3 warriors, it might have been a different story, but it is completely different here.

-The Dark Spirit User who has trash direct combat power capabilities.

-The strong warrior that waves around a greatsword and can use Light Spirit Abilities.

-A scout that can’t fight.

That’s the party composition.

In other words, in terms of damage, we will be mostly relying on Rifreya.

“For now, we will have Grapefull find enemies, I will distract them, and Rifreya defeats them. Something along those lines I guess.” (Hikaru)

“I don’t really mind that, but…what do we do about the Spirit Abilities?” (Rifreya)

“What Light Spirit Abilities do you have?” (Hikaru)

When I asked this, she hung her head down slightly and muttered ‘I can only use 2’.

“The Light I saw before, and…what about the other one?” (Hikaru)

“Cure Glow. An ability that heals wounds.” (Rifreya)

“Nice.” (Hikaru)

Having healing abilities is a great help. We won’t be able to avoid small wounds, so there would be no end if I had to buy potions with Crystals at every instance.

“Now that I think about it, my abilities are dark element… Is it going to be okay?” (Hikaru)

“Okay…as in what?” (Rifreya)

“I heard that the people around here don’t use that, you see.” (Hikaru)

“I don’t really get what you are trying to ask me here, but there’s no way there would be a problem in using the abilities which are the divine blessing of a Great Spirit-sama, you know? It is true that there aren’t many Dark Spirit Users, but that’s only because there’s no church of the Great Dark Spirit-sama here.” (Rifreya)

“I see. That’s fine then.” (Hikaru)

I am relieved.

It is darkness, so I thought they had a bad reputation, but it seems like all Great Spirits of any element are respected.

“Also, uhm…can I ask how many abilities you can use, Hikaru? Could it be that you can use all the way to the 5th one…? No way that’s the case, huh.” (Rifreya)

“I can use 8.” (Hikaru)

“E-Eight…?!” (Rifreya)

Rifreya raised a shocked voice.

Well, all elements most likely have 8.

The last special ability I learned was from the dark element.

“Well, the 8th is a bit special, so I can’t use it much though.” (Hikaru)

“W-Wait a moment please… Did I hear correctly…? Not 7 but 8…?” (Rifreya)

Was it foolish to be honest here?

…No, we will be fighting with our lives on the line here, so hiding our cards is not good.

“8. But there aren’t many offensive abilities in my Dark Spirit Abilities, so I might not be able to match your expectations.” (Hikaru)

“No…I saw you using a number of abilities at that time, so I knew that you were an amazing ability user, but…8, huh…” (Rifreya)

Rifreya was practically absentminded here.

She is a light templar apprentice and even she can only use 2, so 8 might be outside the common.

Looks like this is information that I shouldn’t be divulging much.

“Is 8 that rare?” (Hikaru)

“Rather than rare…even the highest of ability users can only use 7. The Great Spirit-samas say there’s an 8th, so there must be, but it is practically a legend…that’s the kind of perception it has. I myself thought it wasn’t possible for a human to use it.” (Rifreya)

“I see… Looks like it would be better to keep the 8th a secret.” (Hikaru)

Whichever the case, the 8th one is summoning undead which gives off a pretty dangerous scent. If I were to use it, it might create unnecessary misunderstandings.

It is on a different spectrum from the normal summoning ability that is Summon Night Bug, or like, the potency is just different…

“Ah, I will say this beforehand to avoid any misunderstandings, but my abilities itself are low tier. I may have a lot, but they aren’t that big of a deal. Only Darkness Fog…the one that brings dark fog is a bit high in tier, but the others are just 1 or 2.” (Hikaru)

“Tiers…they are going up…? The abilities…?” (Rifreya)

“Well, yeah…” (Hikaru)

Eh, did I say something weird here?

It works with proficiency, so of course it would go up if you use them.

“This is just for reference, but what’s the Tier of that highest ability?” (Rifreya)

“4.” (Hikaru)

“F-F-F-F-F-F-Four?!” (Rifreya)

Rifreya raises an even louder voice of disbelief.

It is pretty hard to raise once it reaches this level, and even though Darkness Fog is an ability I use pretty often, it hasn’t reached Tier 5.

“By 4, does that mean that it has become a higher ability…?” (Rifreya)

“Eh, yeah. It turned from Dark Mist to Darkness Fog when it reached 3. When it was mist, I think you could faintly see from the outside, but fog is practically complete darkness, so it became easier to use.” (Hikaru)

“Haah~, that’s impressive, Hikaru… Is this what’s called a genius…? As for me, I can only use 2, and they are both still in Tier 1…” (Rifreya)

“It isn’t really that big of a deal though.” (Hikaru)

These are my honest thoughts. I even feel bad about it.

I am by no means a genius. I am simply getting the benefits of the skills I received from God. In the eyes of the natives, this would literally be a cheat.

By the way, the current status of my Dark Spirit Abilities are like this.

-

[Dark Spirit Ability]

Tier 1 Ability

?Falsehood of Darkness [Shade Shift] Proficiency 62

?Casket of Darkness [Shadow Bind] Proficiency 49

?Call of Darkness [Summon: Night Bug] Proficiency 55

Tier 2 Ability

?View of Darkness [Dark Vision] Proficiency 82

?Transformation of Darkness [Shadow Runner] Proficiency 76

?Deposition of Darkness [Shadow Bag] Proficiency 69

Tier 4 Ability

?Revelation of Darkness [Darkness Fog] Proficiency 43

Special Technique

?Return of Darkness [Create: Undead] Proficiency 1

-

My proficiency isn’t going up as fast as I want it to.

I understand Darkness Fog being hard to increase because it is Tier 4, but I have been using Shadow Bind and Summon Night Bug, and yet, they are still at 1.

The proficiency of abilities you learn later are most likely harder to raise.

However, the 3 abilities that are in Tier 2 are close to Tier 3.

Just like how Dark Mist became Darkness Fog, there should be a change to a higher ability.

“And so, uhm…Hikaru, how many can you use in a day…?” (Rifreya)

“I have never counted it, but I think I am fine using them for around 100 times… Are you okay? You look pale.” (Hikaru)

Her white face grew even whiter, and her lips were trembling.

I am also aware that my number of uses is slightly weird.

“Hikaru, you were a Loved One…?” (Rifreya)

“L-Loved…?! What’s that?” (Hikaru)

I would say I am a hated one.

I am by no means something embarrassing like a loved one.

“R-Right… There’s no way you would be a Loved One…huh. Then that means you have incredible Spirit Ability talent… Wow…” (Rifreya)

“I must have the affinity. The Spirits have been helping me out a lot.” (Hikaru)

I managed to escape from that forest exactly because of this affinity…the thing called the Affection of Spirits.

Even so, I couldn’t use Spirit Abilities consecutively on the day, so it was most likely a combination of it being night and the dungeon. Especially in the 2nd Floor that’s darker than the 1st, darkness has quite a lot of advantages.

“Now then, let’s wrap up the talk here. Let’s adjust our battle style in actual combat. Let’s begin with goblins or orcs first.” (Hikaru)

No matter how much we talk with words, it is not like we have fought together.

We won’t be able to tell unless we do it.

We will secure a margin of safety, but there’s the need for a certain degree of boldness.

That should be more enjoyable for the viewers.