Billy succeeded, but he didn't learn any skills. It was probably because the effects were too weak… Still, if some mana needed to be seen in order to take effect, it seemed like a problem. Billy didn't want to make his kids stand out by shining. Regardless, the amulet didn't make him shine either, so he will probably find an answer eventually. The hard path was over, so he just had to endure it for a bit longer.
"Come to think of it, Fierce Blast is a mix of mana and stamina, but even while it leaves my body, the energy still can work…" Billy thought. "It must be because of the nature of the skill."
It was really weird. The mana could do a lot as long as there was a connection between Billy and the final use of the energy… And that was a problem since Billy couldn't stay with his kids all the time. One step at a time… With that mentality, Billy continued with his training.
You have learned Mana Shield.
Mana Shield: it grants you the power to nullify most forms of damage in exchange for mana. You can nullify up to ten points of damage per level and attack.
In the end, it took Billy three days to learn the spell. Just as he wanted, the spell was always active, it only blocked things that could harm him, and the damage was decreased from his mana. While the skill had some limitations, its potential was also quite impressive. Billy wished that with each level up, the cost of mana would decrease, but that would be too convenient.
Since Billy finally achieved his first goal, he decided to take a break from the training and headed to the garden. There he found his kids playing with their pets. While they didn't do much aside from that, Billy realized that the creatures had leveled up once… And since Billy connected them with his kids with the power of the Absolute summoning link, Christina and Hector also got a bit stronger.
"They already are stronger than ordinary kids, so I am sure this won't change things much," Billy thought.
The arctic wolf was almost the size of Hector when he was standing, and the Eagle was already taller than Christina, so Billy was expecting them to grow quite a bit since they were essentially newborn creatures. In any case, while Billy was watching them, he felt a presence at his gate, and then he saw Icarus and Lucyna. It seemed that they wanted to talk, but they left the area since they knew it wasn't a good time. In any case, Billy found them in front of his office at night.
"You guys took your time," Billy said.
"We had to do some investigation regarding the last incident," Icarus said. "In the end, we confirmed that while the earth titan was being killed, you were facing the ice titan."
"We also heard about the theft of the corpses of the other fallen reincarnated individuals, and we connected the dots," Lucyna added.
"I see," Billy said. "In any case, I didn't lose the powers that I got, but I had a weird feeling around the time the bodies were stolen… Most likely, a necromancer turned them into zombies, and they can use their old powers to some extent."
"I didn't want to have heard that…" Icarus said and then facepalmed. "I suppose this is our blunder since we didn't expect that such a thing would happen."
It was a bit surprising that Icarus wasn't blaming Billy for that. He probably would have done the same thing in Billy's place… He couldn't just burn down the entire body of a fellow human of his own volition.
"I never heard of such a thing happening until now, so my guess is that this guy has been laying low and only decided to act now for whatever reason," Icarus said.
"I suppose it is time to increase the scope of our search…" Lucyna added. "Even if we don't find this guy, as long as we get any information…"
"Speaking of that, did you make contact with the samurai? We can use them to learn more about the past of this world, right?" Icarus asked.
"Yes, we can," Billy replied. "I mean, I can… It would be weird if I were to send any of you in my place."
"I guess that makes sense," Icarus said. "We will focus on searching for traces of that guy everywhere while you do some research in the samurai land. Is that fine?"
"No problem," Billy replied.
Billy already had his spies on that task to get as much real information as possible regarding that, but they couldn't be faster than those two. It seemed that Billy had to make them capture more bandits in order for him to discipline and convince them about how wonderful it was to work for Billy's espionage company. It wasn't like the captured ones had many options, but it still was better than death or spending the rest of their lives in jail.
"You two can have this. You can use it to communicate with one another in case you separate for whatever reason," Billy said and then gave them a pair of magic faxes.
"Thanks, this will be useful… I heard that you also made something similar to a chopper, so I am looking forward to your new creations," Icarus said.
"They aren't easy to make, and my skills are expensive, so you probably won't be able to afford or even maintain one," Billy said.
"Ouch, I will apply cold water to the burned area," Icarus said.
It seemed that things were back to normal regarding Billy's relationship with those two. While he didn't want to get too chummy with them, it was better than having an antagonistic relationship. Now that a third party had arrived, it would be more convenient for Billy if he could count on them now and then.
