After leveling up twice consecutively, Takeru encountered a new monster. It was a porcupine-boar hybrid called a Needleboar, and its level reached 12.
"Takeru-sama, please be careful. The Needleboar's quills are very troublesome." Seeing the Needleboar instantly, Via spoke nervously.
As soon as she finished speaking, the Needleboar released its attack. The quills on its body shot toward Takeru like arrows, and the quantity was considerable.
Via wanted to use Earth Wall to defend, but Takeru was too close to the Needleboar. She couldn't make it in time.
However, she was overthinking everything.
The reason the Needleboar wasn't killed instantly was purely because Takeru wanted to test its attack power. After its large number of quills were devoured by Takeru's [Devourer], they provided him with just over 2,000 units of energy.
Seeing this, Takeru shook his head slightly, 'As expected, still too weak.'
Thinking this, Takeru swung his sword. The Needleboar's blood splattered as it collapsed, turning into Takeru's experience points...
With its death, Takeru leveled up again. Takeru thought for a moment and allocated all his attribute points to defense.
As the defense value increased, Takeru's own basic attributes were also enhanced.
Takeru confirmed that two points from this world represented one point from the Reincarnation Space.
Apart from the 2 fixed attribute points from leveling up freely, there was also a chance of increasing a point or two with each level.
While Takeru was allocating points, Via beside him stared blankly at Takeru. Although she had been surprised many times before, she couldn't help but be shocked.
'What was Takeru-sama's special ability just now? Not only the Needleboar's quills, but my Water Blade and Water Cannon earlier had also been devoured by that eerie light.'
As for Via's questions, Takeru had no intention of explaining. After farming monsters in the forest for over two hours, Takeru had collected a lot of materials. Besides that, his level had directly risen to 14.
Although Takeru could precisely target monsters and kill them instantly, as his level increased, the required experience points also grew. These monsters were starting to fall behind, so Takeru decided not to waste more time grinding here.
As for going to other places, there was no rush. Takeru planned to return and thoroughly study the Hero's Sword that he couldn't remove, as well as develop his portable space in this world. He might need to use his portable space frequently in this world later.
"Alright, Via, let's go back first." Looking at Via, Takeru spoke calmly.
"Yes, Takeru-sama!" Although surprised that Takeru was suggesting returning so early, Via didn't show any sign of objection. She obediently nodded and followed Takeru back toward the city.
Passing by the grassland on their return, Takeru noticed Naofumi still hard at work fighting monsters with his fists. Because legendary weapons reject other types of ordinary weapons, Naofumi couldn't use swords, knives, or similar weapons.
As for Myne, she showed no intention of helping. Moreover, judging by her demeanor, like in the original work, she didn't choose to party with Naofumi, or perhaps she didn't tell him about the party function.
Passing by Naofumi, Takeru led Via straight back into the city. With Via guiding the way, he chose an inn to rent a room. Then, at Takeru's request, Via took him to the city's magic shop.
"Welcome. Are you the Sword Hero?" Seeing the prominent longsword in Takeru's hand, the magician inside the shop asked respectfully.
"Yes. I want to buy some magic books, as well as books for learning this world's writing." Looking at the middle-aged woman shopkeeper, Takeru spoke directly.
"Yes, but Brave One, would you like to take a magic aptitude test? Knowing your aptitude will make it easier to choose corresponding magic books to buy." Hearing Takeru's words, the shopkeeper quickly asked.
"A test? Please go ahead and test me then." Hearing her words, Takeru nodded slightly.
"Alright, please come this way." Hearing Takeru's words, the shopkeeper spoke respectfully to Takeru.
The shop owner took out a crystal ball-like tool. She then tested Takeru. The test results directly stunned the shopkeeper. Takeru was suited for all the magic in this world, and his aptitude for each type was extremely high...
"Well, Brave One, which type of magic would you like to learn first?" Then, the shopkeeper asked nervously.
"Sell me one copy of every magic book you have in the shop." Hearing her words, Takeru spoke calmly.
"Eh, all of them?" Hearing Takeru's words, the shopkeeper was stunned, then asked uncertainly.
"Yes. How much would that cost?" Hearing her words, Takeru directly asked.
"Well, with a discount, the price would be 18 gold coins. Brave One, are you sure you want to buy them?" Hearing Takeru's words, the shopkeeper asked hesitantly.
"I don't have that many gold coins, but would you take this?" Hearing her words, Takeru directly took out a pure magic ore stone.
"This is!" Looking at the magic ore stone Takeru took out, the shopkeeper showed a puzzled expression. After examining it, she showed a surprised expression.
"Such pure energy. Even wearing it seems to slightly help with mana recovery. Brave One, could you tell me where you found this?" After appraising it for a while, the shopkeeper spoke in surprise.
"So do you want to buy this? And what price will you offer?" Hearing her words, Takeru directly asked.
"Well, of course I'm willing to buy it. As for the price... I can only offer five gold coins." Hearing Takeru's words, the shopkeeper hesitated slightly, then spoke seriously.
"Five gold coins, huh? That's acceptable. I have three more similar pieces here. Will you buy them too?" Hearing her words, Takeru took out three more magic ore stones.
For Takeru, with the Magic Slime, he would never lack magic ore stones.
As for manifesting them, the cost was very low, especially since he still had over four tons of those already manifested.
"I'll take them. So, deducting the cost of the books, I owe you two gold coins. By the way, Brave One, how will you take these books away? They seem rather inconvenient to carry." As the shopkeeper took out the books one by one, looking at them piled up on the counter, she asked hesitantly.
"I have my own way." As he spoke, Takeru stored all the books into his space ring.
"Storage magic!" Seeing this, the shopkeeper was stunned.
"Oh, right, Brave One, would you like to purchase some crystal orbs?" Then, the shopkeeper smiled at Takeru again.
"Crystal orbs?" Hearing her words, Takeru was puzzled.
"By using a crystal orb, you can remember a magic spell sealed inside it." Looking at Takeru's confused expression, the shopkeeper continued.
"Interesting. How much are the crystal orbs?" Hearing her words, Takeru said with interest.
"A crystal orb costs one gold coin. If you need one with a magic spell already sealed inside, the price ranges from one and a half to five gold coins." Hearing Takeru's words, the shopkeeper quickly said.
"I'll take two. One pure crystal orb. As for the other with a sealed spell, could you demonstrate it on the spot?" Hearing her words, Takeru directly asked.
"That's not a big problem. But what type of magic spell would you like sealed in the other one, Brave One?" Hearing Takeru's words, the shopkeeper nodded directly.
"What magic spell? An ordinary low-level spell is fine." Hearing her words, Takeru said casually.
"An ordinary magic spell? Would Fireball work?" Hearing this, the shopkeeper asked hesitantly.
"Yes." Hearing her words, Takeru quickly nodded.
Fireball, being the most basic magic, only cost one and a half gold coins to seal inside. After Takeru paid, the shopkeeper directly handed him a pure crystal orb. As for the other one, she sealed it on the spot.
To see if he could learn it himself, Takeru directly activated his Sharingan. Through the Sharingan's powerful copying ability, combined with Takeru's own magical talent, he set to work.
Of course, although his eyes changed, Takeru used a simple illusion to conceal the change in his eyes. Neither the shopkeeper nor Via present noticed anything unusual.