"Hey, leader. This guy is terrifying. The energy radiating from him is insane," Kagura whispered to Tianluo, who stood beside her.
"Yeah. His presence is as intense as General Lin Feng from Yinzhou. He's strong we'd better not make him an enemy," Tianluo replied quietly.
"Excuse me, do you live alone on this planet?" Tianluo asked the man calmly sitting with a cup in his hand.
The man had black hair and sharp, shiny black eyes full of life. He wore a dark blue shirt and old, worn-out shorts, yet somehow, he still looked neat. His gaze was intense, like someone who wanted everything to end quickly lazy, maybe?
"Yes, I live alone here. Or, more accurately, I did until a few days ago. Certain circumstances left me here by myself."
"General Jiang?"
"Yeah."
"..."
"We're adventurers sent from Yinzhou to retrieve General Jiang's body. My name is Jiang Tianluo, and this is Kagura," he said, giving a martial-arts-style bow. I recognized the gesture from reading my sensei's novels in the illusionary magic world.
"Jiang!?" I reacted in surprise. That was the same surname as my sensei.
"General Jiang Bailou was one of the elders of my family. That's why Yinzhou entrusted this mission to us."
I didn't feel like he was lying. I simply nodded and turned around, motioning for them to follow me into the house I had built.
*
Tianluo and Kagura paid their respects to Jiang Bailou, who now rested in a coffin. Then, they stored it in their space inventory.
I was impressed by their tech. I could easily store and transport items using spatial magic, but their inventory system didn't require magical energy at all. It was encrypted so well I couldn't even detect an energy pattern. That meant the contents weren't just portable they were also secure from magical theft.
"Is that powered by qi?" I asked curiously.
"Oh, this? No, the space inventory uses pure ether combined with tech."
"…" I fell silent, not quite understanding.
"This kind of tech has been in development for the last 500 years. Maybe Elder Jiang never came across it," Tianluo added.
"I see… By the way, about returning Sensei's uh, General Jiang's body. I'd like to go with you to make sure it reaches Yinzhou safely."
"That's fine. Even though you're not blood-related, considering the elder trained you, I'm sure General Lin Feng and our family head will want to meet you."
As the successor of the Jiang family, Tianluo acknowledged me as Sensei's disciple especially after I showed him the letter I was supposed to deliver to Yinzhou. I didn't know what the letter said, but after reading it, Tianluo's expression turned serious and respectful. Even Kagura looked surprised at how much his attitude changed. I actually had to ask him to talk to me normally again. What on earth did Sensei write in that letter?
Ki-ring! Ki-ring!
"What's going on?" Tianluo said, responding to the ringing sound from his communication device. Kagura checked hers too. I just stood back and let them do their thing.
"Gaia, it's urgent. We need to leave now."
"Huh!?"
Tianluo explained that the Blackbeard space pirate fleet had entered Matera's orbit.
"Is your ship faster than theirs?" I asked.
"It should be, but even then, it'll be hard to break through a fleet that large hundreds of ships."
We hurried to the small vessel they had used to land on Matera, trying to get back to their main ship.
BOOM!!
Something crashed in front of us right by the ship we needed. Dozens of objects rained from the sky, and one even destroyed our way off the planet.
"Kuhahaa! Don't think I'll let you escape that easily," a voice boomed from the cloud of dust.
When the dust cleared, a huge, muscular man stood there, laughing. He was dressed ridiculously, with curly black hair, a terrifying face, and an eye patch. Yep definitely the space pirate they were talking about.
Despite the chaos, Tianluo and Kagura remained calm. Being an S-rank adventurer clearly wasn't something you earned for nothing.
"Kagura, there are about 50 of Blackbeard's goons behind him. They're yours. I'll handle Blackbeard," Tianluo ordered.
"Understood, leader!"
"Ballack! Make sure none of the fleet interferes!"
"Gahahaha! That's what I was planning!"
"Mei! Monitor the situation and make sure it stays under control!"
"Yes!"
After giving orders, Tianluo and Kagura sprang into action. If there was one person without a role, it was me. I had no idea what to do everything already seemed handled. Even Blackbeard didn't glance in my direction.
"…Guess I'll just watch while sipping tea and snacking," I muttered, looking for a comfy spot.
"Good thing Kagura gave me a space inventory full of food and drinks," I added.
*
Kagura darted past Blackbeard, heading straight for his lackeys. Blackbeard ignored her and grinned at Tianluo.
"...Tch. Pirate, you're underestimating me."
Kagura scattered dozens of yellow talismans, which floated around the enemy soldiers like a storm of paper. Seconds later, the talismans began to spin, surrounding them.
"Hmm… don't tell me each one's going to explode. That's gonna look brutal," I muttered, eating popcorn and sipping cola.
And yep, they exploded one after another, each with enough power to level a boulder. But oddly enough, the enemies weren't blown to pieces they were just knocked out.
"So… what was the point of that?" I asked no one.
"Tch, useless. Not like I expected much from them," Blackbeard muttered.
Then he drew his sword somehow from nowhere and charged Tianluo. His scimitar-like blade met Tianluo's double-edged sword.
Tianluo got pushed back.
"Huh? Their strength should be similar. Why was Tianluo pushed back?"
"According to the data, Blackbeard's an ether user with gravity-based skills. He probably boosted his sword or body with gravity, increasing his attack power," a voice said.
"Whoa! Who's that!? Where are you!?" I asked, startled.
"Sorry… I'm Jiang Yuemei, one of Tianluo's teammates and also his little sister. The space inventory also works as a communicator. You left it open, so I heard you… talking to yourself," she replied.
"Oh… nice to meet you. I'm Gaia Matera."
"I know."
"…So, about what you said earlier. What exactly are ether skills? Are they different from magic or qi?"
(or is it Like pure energy manipulation? But I Never saw that in magic training with sensei)
Before she could answer, the battle escalated. Blackbeard's wild swings released small black orbs that vaporized anything they touched, but Tianluo dodged them easily.
"You damn eel! I'll erase you without a trace!" Blackbeard yelled, slashing his sword wide. A black energy wave surged toward Tianluo, sucking in everything along its path.
"A black hole… in the form of a sword slash?" I said, watching in awe. I'd never seen a black hole, but books had taught me enough to recognize one.
"A gravity slash created with ether, huh? Let's see how it compares to mine," Tianluo said, smiling.
He shifted into a high stance left foot forward, blade raised overhead.
His sword glowed bright blue, then turned black and red.
"Ether skill: Dimension Slash!"
He swung.
The two attacks collided.
(as I thought)
"So ether skills aren't that different from magic or qi. But since ether is pure energy, the casting speed and power are way higher," I commented.
"Yeah, that's exactly right. I'm surprised you figured that out," Mei responded.
"I don't know much about ether, honestly. But I can recreate those attacks using magic. The problem is, it takes me twice as long and produces maybe half the power. If I had to compare, ether gives 2–3 times the output of the same energy."
"Eh?" Mei sounded surprised.
*
Tianluo's Dimension Slash cut straight through Blackbeard's gravity slash and kept going. Blackbeard barely dodged it.
"Tch. Your ether skill is seriously annoying," he growled.
"..."
"I'll show you why they call me the King of Pirates!"
Black aura burst from his body, completely enveloping him. His sword transformed not just coated in aura, but made of aura.
"Equilibrium Break: Gravity Dimension..."