Chapter 372: The Fastest's World

Author's Preface
I pulled Summer Zooeyyyy!!
GRANBLUE FANT
ASY

"...That's called 'High Connection,' you knooow?"

"Kone-kone (Knead-knead)?"

"Emul, don't knead my head."

"Whah ih he herhon heahing my heekh haying?!" (What is the person kneading my cheeks saying?!)

If I injected yeast into Emul's cheeks, they'd puff up even more... Wait, isn't that just the mumps?

"So, what's so amazing about this High Connection?"

"Well you seee... first of all, there's no limit to the number of skills you can connect at once with High Connection, you knooow?"

Are you serious.

"On top of that, you don't even have to worry about the compatibility between the skills. You can connect attack skills and defense skills together, you knooow."

Are you serious!

"And then... you can disconnect the connected skills whenever you want, you knooow."

Are you serious!?

"Normally, granting a Secret Law eats up a proportional amount of experience... but guess whaaat? I can use 'High Connection' through a different method, you seeee."

Are you seriousss!!

"Right now... I'll connect them for the low, low price of 100 million Mani per skill!"

...Eh, seriously? It can be solved with money? Is this heaven?

"So hypothetically, if I connected three, it'd be 300 million?"

"That's righttt."

"Onee-chan! That's obviously a bit too much of a rip-off, desu wa!?"

"No Emul, even at 200 million per skill, that's actually pretty cheap."

"Desu wa!?"

This is a game, after all. If you grind enough, you can do anything, but if you ask whether it hurts more to lose EXP or money, it's definitely the former.
Money is meant to be spent, but EXP is meant to be accumulated. At the very least, if I hit the major milestone of a five-connection or ten-connection, the amount of EXP taken wouldn't just be one or two levels.
Besides, looking at Wethermon's level-down field, if my stats are affected, my direct performance itself will also take a hit.

But if it's money, the story changes completely. Well, there are various complications like market prices and the economy, but a jewel sold by a Level 1 player and a jewel sold by a Level 100 player have the exact same value.
And there's no need to even think about whether a Level 1 or a Level 100 can farm money more efficiently.

Unlike real life, as long as your avatar's data remains in a game, you can manage even with zero funds.

"If we're talking hundreds of millions, I'll need to focus primarily on making money. Is Crystal Nest Cliff still the highest efficiency after all...? No, but..."

"Oh, righttt, there's one more condition for 'High Connection,' you knooow."

"Which is?"

"Normally, pruning a skill is a technique that changes a person's mana flow, you seeee. A child who reaches a strength beyond their previous limits will have their capacity increased, but because of that, 'High Connection' won't work properly unless the person themselves envisions the technique even more strongly, you knooow..."

I took five seconds to process the conversation in my brain, spent another five seconds striving to comprehend its meaning, and used the final five seconds to arrive at a rough conclusion.
After pondering for about fifteen seconds, I shut out roughly seventy percent of Elke's words from my thoughts, chewed on the remaining thirty percent, and voiced the conclusion I had reached.

"In other words, go look at something that can serve as a role model for the skill I want."

"Correeeect! Here, a reward for youuu."

・100 Mani

Money-grubbing fiend... I'm still taking it, though.

"...Hmm."

"A disciple is meant to surpass their master, but before that, they must chase their master's back."

Therefore, if I am to use a role model, it should be the very thing other Bounty Hunters call a superior version of Lutia's "Mach"... "Tachyon" (Transcendent Speed).

Elke's explanation was a bit abstract—or rather, it had a lot of ambiguous parts for a system description in a game—so I can't say for sure, but it doesn't seem like just simply watching a role model will be enough.

"The back of the fastest Bounty Hunter... I want to know, I can't help but wonder just how well my current self can keep up with it."

"...Fine."

Hell yeah. Since it's probably her trump card, I was a little worried she wouldn't show it to me, but I guess the bribery strategy worked perfectly.

"Master, one slice of cake."

"Understood."

...? Why cake? I mean, I only asked to see it, so she doesn't necessarily have to draw her sword... but even so, why cake?

"Sunraku, stand over there for a bit."

"Eh? Sure."

I didn't quite understand, but I stood up anyway. That's when I finally realized I was still half-naked, so I put my clothes on. Well, it'll probably take about three minutes.

............

............

"Gahhh!!?"

"Whoa, what the!?"

The man who wasn't a woman wearing career woman clothes... Glitch suddenly reeled back and flipped over backward, taking his chair with him.
I had noticed him glancing over here occasionally for a while now, but out of sympathy as a fellow man, I let it slide... By the way, the Master continued serving customers without batting an eye. Is he a strong character in a completely different category from pure combat power or something?

"Huh? There was cream on my cheek."

How strange, for cream to get somewhere this far from my mouth... Yup, sweet.

"............It can't be helped."

"Heh?"

"Sunraku, use your skills and try to catch me with everything you have."

"Eh? Here?"

"Yes, no holding back. Even if a drunk Tour goes on a rampage, this place won't break."

And besides, Sensei declared, the corners of her mouth curling up into a smirk.

"Even if I move second, I'll still be faster."

Bring it on. If that's how it is... Alright, let's do this. That being said, some of my skills require landing an attack to trigger, so with the combinations I can pull off right now...

Exceed Gravity, Kurama Tengu Secret Tradition, Space Charge, Hermes Boots, Wolfate Sign, Blood Burn Burst, and then Levin Trigger: Hazard... And finally, I'll use Quantum Gaze and go full speed. Right now, I can even run through the air.

"Here I come...!"

I won't charge straight on. I'll shift my trajectory slightly and place my hand on Sensei's head from a diagonal right angle!

I put strength into my legs, traced the route with my eyes imbued with the effect of Quantum Gaze, and stepped forward...

"Tachyon."

(.........Excuse me?)

My body wouldn't move.
The very first thing I thought of was that the VR system had glitched out and frozen. Though if that were the case, the double and triple-layered safety mechanisms would log me out, so it wouldn't be a problem.

But no, if it was a problem on the VR system's end, a notification window would have popped up immediately. That means this is operating exactly within the expected parameters of the game known as ShanFro.

And after about a second of confusion, I realized. My body wasn't failing to move; it was as if everything had gone into slow motion... Yes, exactly as if my thoughts alone were accelerating while my physical body was left behind.

"............Wha-"

That's when I noticed. Only my perception was moving at normal speed, while everything else, including my own body, was moving in slow-motion... in a world that felt as if it had stopped entirely.

Munch munch

Tias was eating cake at normal speed as if it were the most mundane thing in the world.

"I can still see... In that case,"

Teleportation... No, that's not it. In this state, Tias accelerated even further and stood right in front of me. Khh, my eyes can move, but they're too slow.

"Here's a bite."

A slender hand casually reached out, and on the tip of the fork held by those fingers, a slice of apple topping the cake was tossed into my slightly open mouth...

Time has begun to move again.

"Eh, ah... Fugyan!?"

"Eh, why am I... Gyaaa!?"

Tias no longer in front of me, losing control of my physical body due to losing focus, my feet tripping, my body tumbling... Wait, is this deja vu?

I'm not trying to brag, but thanks to ball game tournaments with my friends, I pride myself on having accumulated experience as the "ball" in almost every ball game out there—basketball, volleyball, baseball, soccer, golf, American football—but this is my first time experiencing being the ball rather than the pin in bowling.

I rolled across the ground about two times and crashed ass-first right into Glitch's face, sending chairs and tables flying with a spectacular crash.

"Thoughts?"

"Mad respect (I'll follow you for the rest of my life) Tias-Sensei."

Well yeah, she's the strongest Bounty Hunter... Even if it wasn't her going all out, using multiple triple-digit skills and only barely being able to realize I was a punching bag? Yeah, I don't see any way of winning.

As I watched Loli Sensei proudly toss the last piece of the sliced cake into her mouth with a triumphant huff, I couldn't help but feel a deep sense of sympathy for the future Avenger hopefuls who might have to fight this thing to earn the class.

Author's Afterword

High Connection is basically like combining "Hyurarararara!" and "Rino...!" [*1]

Q: Can anyone actually beat this?
A: If you have enough toughness to endure until Tias stalls out, there's a slight chance, though if she activates her Emblem, you have absolutely zero chance. You could win with a zombie strategy, but well, we don't talk about that.

Translator's Note

• [1] "Hyurarararara!" (ヒュララララ！) is the in-game cry of Kyurem, and "Rino...!" (リノ……！) is the cry of Necrozma. Both are legendary Pokémon whose entire mechanical gimmick revolves around fusing with other Pokémon (Black/White Kyurem, Dusk Mane/Dawn Wings Necrozma).