Okami Wa Nemuranai

"Alright then, what to do."

Lecan pondered how he should proceed.

He needs to inform and consult Nike and Eda about the situation before they returned to the town.

He's got to join them before they pass the west gate.

Lecan is capable of detecting Nike from this town with his detection capability. After all she's a bearer of an extraordinary amount of mana.

However, there exist many interfering presences in the town, he can't discount the possibility of him missing her by mistake.

"Fumu."

After considering many options, he decided to leave the town through the west gate.

He's used to camping. Besides, he wanted to try out stuff not possible inside town.

The need to practice shooting <Flame Spear (Bandroux)> from his left hand.

Lecan found a terrain enclosed by hills at about 5000 steps away from the west gate, away from the highways, he set up a camp there. Afterward he fully devoted himself into practicing <Flame Spear>.

It's unexpectedly hard.

Of course there's no problem with casting Flame Spear itself, no problem with power either.

But it's not accurate enough and the casting speed is completely out of question.

He kept practicing over and over again, and took a break once he used up his mana.

Then he slept for a bit.

His mana has recovered by the time he's awake.

"Fumu. I suppose practicing <Flame Spear> from the get go would only worsen my control."

Thus he instead began practicing <Lamplight (Parm)> with his left hand.

Lecan could already light up <Lamplight> anywhere he wants without even reciting the spell, but he lit it up on his fingertips nonetheless.

He could vividly feel his mana getting extracted out from deep within his body, passing through his left hand and converging into his fingertips.

Trivial. Making his mana flow is nothing difficult. But the control went stiff at the point where his mana was converging in his fingertips through his left hand. He should aim to make this flow smoother.

After trying out various things, he noticed that it controlled worse when he tried to take aim by moving his hand and fingers.

Thus he hung his left arm loosely, gripped his fingers sans for index finger and practiced converging lights into that fingertip.

It didn't go well at first, but he gradually got better at controlling the timing and light intensity at will.

And when the surroundings had gotten completely dark, he grilled meat on the bonfire and enjoyed dinner while drinking some booze.

He never considered the possibility of the two coming back today. Right now, Nike and Eda should be camping on their way to Vouka from Golbul. Or maybe they're staying for another night at Golbul even.

Lecan wake up early in the morning the day after and practiced <Lamplight> over and over again to his heart's content. This place is way off the highways and surrounded by hills so there's no fear of getting seen by travelers. Not many people travel between Golbul and Vouka to begin with. There's no need to worry about public eyes.

After lunch, he practiced <Flame Arrow> with his left hand. This didn't go well with his left arm just loosely hanging. If he tried shooting a <Flame Arrow> from his palm with his left arm hanging, the cast time would be bizarrely long and the aim way off. The direction it flew off to was so random that he himself found it perplexing.

Then he tried to shoot from his loosely hanging left finger, but this was no good either. The mana flow was extremely bad.

After trying out many things, in the end he could shoot it by lifting up his left arm and solely pushed his forefinger out, but it was slow and controlled bad.

By bending his right arm, putting his left arm on his left fist, and shooting out of his left index finger with his shoulder stretched straight forward, it comes out very much faster and accurate. He took Shira's mana recovery medicine and continued practicing. He got several pieces of mana recovery medicine from Shira and that was the last one.

As he started a bonfire and had dinner, three magic beasts drew closer. It's <Green Wolves (Oje)>.

Lecan bit off meat on a skewer, threw the skewer away, and put his right hand on his sword while chewing.

The three Green Wolves are creeping in on him while hiding their presences. Suddenly Lecan thought up something.

<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than Sousetsuka.com you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel.>

The three magic beasts sprung up.

"<Flame Arrow>."

As he murmured that, three <Flame Arrows> shot out of his index finger, middle finger and ring finger from his naturally bent left hand, piercing through the Green Wolves each. Two of them died instantly, but the third one was still attempting to bite Lecan's neck off even with its leg shot.

Lecan nimbly dodged and cut up the Green Wolf's throat.

He would have just struck through its head if he had his former sword, but his current sword is not furnished with Self-Repair ability. He needs to be careful not to put unnecessary load on it.

"Fumu."

This is usable, thought Lecan.

He had never tried casting multiple <Flame Arrows> at once before. But he felt like he could and acted on it. And he did.

Thanks to repeatedly practicing the basic of casting, his mana now flows smoothly through his left hand. Hence, he was able to put his sudden idea into practice.

"Hold on."

Shira once told him about a magician capable of casting hundreds <Flame Arrows> at once. But a human can only have ten fingers at most.

Lecan picked up a new meat skewer off the ground, grilled it, bit on it once it burned enough, and then lifted up his index finger while savoring the taste in his mouth.

"<Flame Arrow>"

Five <Flame Arrows> shot out of his fingertips and vanished into the night.

"Ooh."

You can do that. Which means.

Lecan thrust out his left hand and spread all five fingers open. Then he imagined a spectacle where five <Flame Arrows> shot out of each finger.

"<Flame Arrow>"

25 <Flame Arrows> flew off. It's but mere <Flame Arrows> but with so many of them, the light produced was more dazzling than that of <Flame Spear>.

The <Flame Arrows> zoomed right above the bonfire, and hit a hill ahead, gouging it out greatly.

This is usable, thought Lecan.

In his battle a few days ago, Gido who was going after Lecan from behind managed to dodge his <Flame Spear>. That was something you couldn't have dodged by relying on your eyes. Yet he did. The man had terrifyingly sharp instinct and quickness.

He will most likely encounter more enemies like that in the future. Be that human or magic beasts.

An area of effect attack from not just 25 but a hundred <Flame Arrows> is extremely effective against such enemy.

Lecan stuffed skewered meat in his mouth, threw away the skewer and chewed on it. Then he gulped it down. He slowly relishes the feeling of meat going down his throat and settling in his stomach.

He stood up.

He held both his hands up high toward the sky, spread his fingers wide open and vividly imagined the magic that should be cast.

"<Flame Arrow>!"

A light so bright as if the sun had come down on earth flashed as close to a hundred <Flame Arrows> disappeared into the empty sky.

(Bingo!)

He was getting ecstatic.

And then dizziness struck.

(Ah, crap.)

Lecan passed out and fell down on the spot.