After we left the store we started visiting various stores I put on a mask to hide my face, it might be a little narcissistic to say this of myself but even I was getting amazed at my beauty when I looked in the mirror every morning. ．
If there’s one thing all cliché stories have taught me it’s that beauty always attracts more trouble than it helps, so I wear a mask to hide my face, I also made others wear masks since there are so many beautiful people with us.
But whenever I passed near a Fairy or Spirit they would wave at me happily, some of them even flew around me a few times before leaving every time Layla or Nix looked at them.
Jade who was next to me looked like a person from a rural town on her first day in a big city, she kept looking in all directions trying to pay attention to everything at the same time, I had to hold her hand so she wouldn’t run away in some random direction.
As everything happened faster than we expected to get permission to go to the hidden village of the Elves inside the Illusory Forest, it’s still too early to go to the Trading Guild, and find Nira and Freya.
Ibuki clung to one of my arms while trying to pull me towards the food stalls, plus Vanessa seemed to look around for something.
“Looking for something Vanessa?” (I)
“I’m just trying to understand what kind of God is being worshiped in this city, it would be dangerous if there were too many believers of the God Baldr here.” (Vanessa)
“But I don’t think I have anything to worry about, I haven’t seen anyone with the Church of Light symbols on their clothes, I haven’t seen anyone staring at us other than the Elf spies.” (Vanessa)
“Leave them alone, after three days we’re going to leave this town, so let’s have some fun before we leave.” (I)
So we walked around town for a bit, Diana and Jade went straight to the gun shops to look at swords, and Kira insisted that we go to a restaurant she chose because it has so many merchants and adventurers.
It seems that Kira’s goal was to eavesdrop on people’s conversations and discover interesting rumors, stories, news, and happenings, which is why she chose a place like this.
“Zenos, Zenos, Zenos, buy us candy.”
“Yes, yes, we want sweets, buy them for us please.”
“…” (I)
After leaving the restaurant we passed near a candy store, then two Fairies came out of my shadow asking for candy.
I look at Layla who looks at me with an embarrassed face like she’s just remembered something now.
“Layla, what’s going on here?” (I)
“I didn’t expect this to happen, this can be a little troublesome.” (Layla)
“What is happening?” (I)
“While the master was unconscious, you were continuously releasing your Aura, so Nix and I used it to further strengthen the Cradles.” (Layla)
“In my case, I did more than just strengthen, I added new pure elements using your Aura and mine.” (Layla)
“With that, the Cradle of Fairies became much stronger, enough to acquire the function of spatial concealment, this power allows the Cradle to create its own space in the place where it is to hide, along with that a door is created for only Fairies and people being brought in willingly by Fairies are able to enter or leave the Cradle.” (Layla)
“But in our case, it doesn’t matter much since the Cradle is inside a Dungeon which is already a separate space, so the Cradle has opened its own passage out of the Dungeon, that door is its shadow master.” (Layla)
“…” (I)
“With this, the Fairies linked to the Cradle can come and go using their shadow whenever they are outside the Dungeon, I believe the same can happen with Nix.” (Layla)
“…” (I)
Sigh
Why did this have to happen to me, doesn’t that mean Fairies and Spirits can step out of my shadow whenever they want?
“I have candy here so you two can eat and go back, okay?” (Vanessa)
“Thanks.”
“Deces…”
Vanessa offered them some sweets and they headed back to the Dungeon through my shadow.
“Is there any way to close this passage?” (I)
“(No.)” (Nix)
“(But we can configure it to not let anything other than Fairies and Spirits in even if they are being invited by someone.)” (Nix)
“Then do it with Layla later.” (I)
“Who is the master talking to?” (Ibuki)
“He’s probably talking to Nix in his mind.” (Byakko)
“It would be weird if a voice started to come out of his shadow out of nowhere.” (Kira)
I was already discouraged by all this, but even so, we continued to look around the city, we bought some things that I found interesting to be a souvenir of this trip.
When it was almost mid-afternoon we went to the Commerce Guild where we waited for a few minutes while Layla went to get Freya and Nira.
After that we went to the inn, on the way, there were some adventurers celebrating and I listened to their conversation for a while.
“I still can’t believe I managed to survive that Wood Golem’s attack, but I still had to stay in bed for a month while I recovered from my injuries.” (Adventurer A)
“Stop complaining, you saved all of us that day, besides thanks to that you managed to overcome your growth barrier, hahahaha…” (Adventurer B)
“True, today I also managed to increase my Guild rank to Grade A.” (Adventurer A)
“Today we have a lot to celebrate, your increase in strength, your increase in Guild rank, and for surviving that horrible fight.” (Adventurer C)
“That’s right, today we’re going to drink until we pass out, hahahahaha…” (Adventurer B)
I was curious about some of the things I heard, so when we arrived at the inn where the carriage is, we went straight to the room that was the biggest in this inn had.
“< Sound Barrier >” (Freya)
“Now we can talk without the people watching us being able to hear us.” (Freya)
“Thank you, Freya.” (I)
I take off my mask as Nix steps out of my shadow, everyone takes off their masks as Nix snaps her fingers creating a black rune that crumbles to another barrier around the room.
“With this, the vision of any kind of skill, magic or technique to see inside the room will be prevented.” (Nix)
“Everyone is too cautious, I don’t think we’re in any danger.” (Ibuki)
“I prefer to be cautious whenever possible because my luck sucks, so I always try to be prepared.” (I)
I use my lines to make a hammock to lie on before turning to the others and asking what I’ve heard from adventurers on the way.
“I was listening to some Adventurers on the way talking about a growth barrier, do you know what that is?” (I)
“No one has told you anything about this until now?” (Vanessa)
“Even I know about it, I had a lot of problems with my own growth barrier.” (Jade)
“Let me explain it to you, Master.” (Diana)
“A growth barrier is something that prevents one’s level from increasing, makes it difficult to learn skills, and prevents one from becoming stronger.” (Diana)
“Everyone has these growth barriers, most people are stuck in these growth barriers for the rest of their lives.” (Diana)
“These growth barriers start to appear for people with Grade B strength, after that, they appear in each full Grade upwards as it gets harder and harder.” (Diana)
“That’s why there are few people who make it to Grade S or higher.” (Diana)
“According to you I’m in the Lower Catastrophe Grade which is above the +SSS Grade, so why didn’t I feel any of these growth barriers?” (I)
“Growth barriers can be easier or harder to cross depending on one’s talent and potential.” (Vanessa)
“Father, you have hundreds of powerful bloodlines within you, you have a contract with a Dragon Spirit and a Fairy with a 7-element Affinity, you have dozens of skills, you have dozens of jobs in your history and most importantly, you are a son. of one of the oldest Goddesses.” (Vanessa)
“I don’t think anyone would say they have more potential or talent than you, Master.” (Jade)
“…” (I)
“But it’s not just because of your master talent, you would have crossed these growth barriers anyway.” (Diana)
“The way to get through these growth barriers is by evolving, having strong emotions, or surviving a near-death situation.” (Diana)
“If you remember, the master went through many situations like this, the battles inside the Corpse Dungeon, the wave of monsters in the city of Valen, the battle against Farus the Heretic God, and the battle against King Makari.” (Kira)
“Actually the master could have crossed the +SSS Grade without going through life or death situations, but it also demonstrated his great potential.” (Diana)
Do they mean that even though I had the talent to get stronger safely, I went through difficult situations for nothing?
“You can see from the people at the camp, many managed to reach Grade S due to the constant fights against Farus, but even so there are people who have not been able to level up since then, an example of this is the Hobgoblins.” (Jade)
“I understand the explanation thank you…” (I)