MTLNOVEL Chapter 17: Spirit Absorption? Nah, It's EXP Pills!
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[Miko: Sorry, sorry! Something came up, and I totally forgot about you.]
[Hana: Hmph! Miko, you're mean!]
[Miko: I'll buy you daifuku tomorrow as an apology!]
[Hana: Two of them!]
[Miko: No problem!!]
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After apologizing to Hana by messages, Miko finally let out a sigh of relief.
"This should be a good spot."
Lynn stopped in front of a deserted alleyway.
Hearing him, Miko put her phone back into her shoulder bag.
It was a dark, windy night—perfect for exorcising evil spirits!
Lynn scanned the area, picking the weakest curse spirit for Miko to practice on.
"That one should do." He pointed toward a spirit lurking ahead to the right.
Miko followed his gaze.
It was a bloated, greasy-looking spirit.
She took a deep breath and then stepped forward with determined strides toward the disgusting entity.
Even though she had mentally prepared herself, as she got closer, she couldn't help but feel tense. Her breathing instinctively grew quieter, and her scalp tingled.
To her, spirits had always been the stuff of nightmares.
Overcoming that fear was no easy task.
Emotions flashed through her mind one by one.
Finally, she stood face-to-face with the grotesque spirit.
"Can you see me?"
"Can you see me?"
Time to end this.
Farewell, Mr. Evil Spirit!
With unwavering eyes, Miko locked gazes with the greasy spirit.
The spirit froze for a moment before its expression visibly twisted into excitement. "You can see me! You can see me!!"
"That's right! I can see you!"
"Ah~ I've always wanted to say that~"
Miko suddenly felt a wave of satisfaction wash over her.
The spirit hesitated again, seemingly surprised.
It had never encountered such a fearless human before.
But it didn't think too much about it—its grotesque mouth twisted into a grin as it let out a shrill roar. "I'll eat you! I'll eat you!!"
"Eat me? More like, eat this bag!"
Miko had no intention of dirtying her hands.
With a swift motion, she hurled her shoulder bag straight at the spirit, embedding it with magical energy as it flew.
Zzzzt—
The moment the spirit came into contact with the bag, it reacted as if it had just met its natural predator. It only had time to let out a miserable scream before vanishing instantly.
Miko blinked, momentarily stunned. "That was... really easy."
A natural counter to spiritual beings.
In mere seconds, the spirit had been completely obliterated.
She hadn't even used much magic.
Glancing down at her bag, she muttered, "Huh. Are spirits actually this weak?"
"This one was just weak," Lynn reminded her. "Spirits have different ranks, and this was clearly a low-level one."
"I see."
Miko scratched her cheek, dialing back her overconfidence.
"That said, with your current power, dealing with most spirits shouldn't be a problem."
Lynn reassured her before continuing, "Now, let's try out some of your other abilities as a Devil."
"Yes, Master Lynn!"
— — —
"Forced Spirit Control"
Miko took a deep breath and focused her magic.
A nearby spirit's gaze dulled, and in an instant, she took control of it.
"I did it!"
Excited, she directed it to attack another spirit.
Roar!!
The two spirits immediately lunged at each other.
Seeing this, Miko took control of a few more spirits and sent them to gang up on the unfortunate target.
The besieged spirit was utterly dumbfounded.
Under the merciless beating of its fellow spirits, it quickly perished.
Miko exhaled slightly and reported, "Right now, I can only control about ten spirits at once."
'Low-level spirits.' Lynn mentally added the missing detail.
"That's already impressive," he said, clapping his hands in encouragement.
Miko could only control ten low-level spirits, but as for him? He could do much more.
After all, he was a high-ranking Devil.
Once Miko had rested for a bit, they moved on to testing another ability of her "Spirit Devil" skill.
Miko gathered the ten spirits together. Her eyes flashed as she parted her lips.
"Spirit Absorption!"
"Aaaaaaahhhh!!"
The spirits let out agonized wails as their bodies distorted, twisting toward a single point as if sucked into a black hole. They were compressed into small, crystal-clear purple beads.
Miko picked up one of them.
A moment later, it decayed like sand blowing in the wind.
Miko blinked, focusing on how she felt before hesitantly saying, "I think... nothing really changed?"
She absorbed the remaining nine beads one by one but still felt no difference.
Lynn rubbed his chin in thought.
"Alright, that's enough for today."
With that, a magic circle flickered beneath their feet, enveloping Miko and Utaha in its glow.
"Huh?"
Miko barely had time to react before they vanished from the alley.
— — —
Lynn's Home
A violet glow flickered in the living room.
The three of them appeared instantly.
Miko's eyes widened in amazement. "That was... incredible!"
In just a blink, they had arrived in an unfamiliar place!
Utaha, on the other hand, wasn't fazed. Having visited Kuoh Town, she was already used to Devil magic.
She even took a moment to explain things to Miko.
But Miko was more interested in something else.
"So this is Master Lynn's home?"
She eagerly looked around.
Utaha: "..."
I just explained an entire teleportation spell, and that's all you got from it!?
Of course, Lynn hadn't brought Miko here just to admire his house.
"Miko, take off your clothes."
"...Again?" Miko was briefly startled but obediently started undressing.
After all, she had already gone through this before.
Utaha made a guess. "Updating her blessing, huh..."
A drop of Lynn's blood fell onto Miko's back.
---
[Yotsuya Miko]
Rank: Low-Class Devil
Race: Devil
Master: Lynn Valifer
Stats:
•Strength: I0 → I1
•Agility: I0 → I2
•Endurance: I0 → I1
•Magic: I0 → I9
Skills: [Spirit Sight] & [Spirit Devil]
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"As expected..."
Her stats had increased by 13 points, likely 10 from Spirit Absorption alone.
Even her physical stats had improved.
Spirit Absorption? Nah it's EXP pills?
Lynn's expression turned strange.
This ability... might be a little overpowered.
If she consumed a high-ranking curse spirit, would she skyrocket in strength?
There had to be a limit, right?
They needed more testing.
After copying down her updated stats, Miko got dressed and checked them over.
"Wow, my stats went up so fast! And even my strength increased?" She flexed her arms, confused.
Was it from swinging her bag?
"It must be 'Spirit Absorption,'" Utaha concluded.
Catching onto the nature of Miko's ability, she muttered enviously, "What a ridiculous skill..."
At that moment, Miko's phone rang.
"Oh no! I forgot to check in with Mom!"
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